With the exception of the injured Ginobili, the Spurs were all in action, which was completely different from what Popovich said in his press conference after the previous game. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Although many people were mentally prepared before the game, they still couldn't help but scold their mothers and complain about Popovich's suspicious formation.

The Spurs used their most usual starting lineup, and the same goes for the Thunder, the center is Kendrick Perkins, the starting center when the Celtics won the championship before, the power forward is Serge Ibaka, who has excellent blocking and defensive ability, the small forward is naturally the absolute core of the team, Kevin Durant, the scoring guard is Sapo Sefolosa, and the point guard is Russell Westbrook, the other young man of the Thunder's second less.

The two teams have been fiercely competing in the west for the past two years, and they are very familiar with each other, so the two sides hardly need to adapt much after the opening, and they quickly entered the state.

The Thunder, in particular, were very aggressive defensively, forcing the Spurs to make two turnovers as soon as the game began, and then took the opportunity to fight back and establish a 4-0 lead at the start of the game.

Because the first two offensive balls were given to two big men, and in the end they were all mistakes, after relaunching the attack, Parker tried to attack one by himself, and the shot was also missed, but fortunately, they also limited the opponent on the defensive end, which avoided the point difference from being further widened.

But despite this, Popovich was also very dissatisfied with the failure to score for three consecutive rounds after the opening game.

The Spurs players were clearly aware of this, and they were noticeably more patient when they came to halftime, and after Parker pressed down the tempo, Leonard fell to the low post and backed Durant to get ready to take the ball and attack.

Durant also struggled at the beginning of the game, with his long arms sticking out, and he reached around Leonard to try to interfere with Parker's pass.

Leonard didn't force the ball at this time, and quickly took a step out, he got out of the entanglement with Durant, and at the same time, Parker's pass came quickly.

After receiving the ball, he shot directly, and when Durant pounced on the defense, Leonard hit a mid-range shot to score 2 points, and finally helped the Spurs blossom on the offensive end.

was attacked by Leonard, Durant was obviously not so convinced, and then came to the other end, he received a pass from Westbrook in the middle distance, and also hit a two-point shot, which was considered a return.

And after these two rounds, the offense and defense of the two teams are officially on the right track.

On the Spurs' side, they still like to rely on overall movement to complete the offense, and the offense on the court is also more blossoming, although Parker and Leonard score more, but others also contribute.

On the Thunder's end, their offensive model has not changed in recent years, and the two core players Durant and Westbrook are their biggest killers, and the two take turns on the court to attack with the ball, or score or help teammates create opportunities, and carry the whole team up.

Except for Leonard defending Durant at the beginning of the game, in the next few rounds, the Spurs used Danny Green to defend Durant, because the Thunder played more in Westbrook's hands, and Durant's offense relied more on running without the ball than holding the ball himself.

Although Leonard and Danny Green are both very good at defending off the ball and on the ball, if you look at it from a single defense perspective, Leonard is more effective at defending ball-handlers, while Green is more capable of defending off-ball players.

So Popovich arranged for Green to defend Durant and Leonard to defend Westbrook. Of course, such alignment is not absolute, and in the game, the two will often cross defenses.

From the perspective of defensive effect, both of them did very well, although Durant and Westbrook were also able to score, but their performances were decent and did not have explosive performances.

In this situation, after eight minutes of the first quarter, the Spurs still had a slight lead of two points at 18:16.

For the Spurs, it's time for another rotation of the team, just over a minute ago, Popovich replaced Split with Dio, and now, Popovich made another substitution, replacing Danny Green with Neil.

Replacing Green with Neil, Popovich is obviously to ensure the firepower on the outside, but correspondingly, what the Spurs need to worry about is the defense on the outside, after all, Neil does not have the defensive skills of Green.

It is true that after Green went off the court, Leonard went to play against Durant, and the task of defending Westbrook fell to Parker and Neil, considering that Parker still needed more playmaking, Popovich let Neil go to play against Westbrook.

However, Neil's defense was obviously not enough in front of Westbrook's impact, and in the first round of the two's confrontation, Westbrook directly broke through Neil's defense, and then took advantage of Dior's defense under the basket to assist Ibaka to score 2 points.

22:24, although Durant was then substituted for the last two minutes of the first quarter and rested, but after the end of the first quarter, the Thunder had a 2-point lead, and among them, Neal's defensive leakage is undoubtedly the most important factor.

Popovich was clearly aware of this, too, so in the second quarter, he made another change to the lineup.

Split partnered with Dio on the inside, and Lee Yang, Danny Green and Corey Joseph on the outside, oh yes, Popovich still arranged for players to rest after all, such as Mills, before the game, Popovich told him that if nothing else, he wouldn't get a chance to play, so Joseph became the team's backup point guard in this game.

The Thunder also began to make substitutions at the end of the first quarter, with Durant and Ibaka and others all resting, so at this time, they arranged for Westbrook to rest and put out a lineup of Nick Collisson, Ibaka, Durant, Kevin Martin, and Derrick Fisher.

Obviously, this lineup will give more control of the ball to Durant, after all, Kevin Martin is a shooter, and the old fish Derrick Fisher is not a young fish, and the offensive with the ball is not as deterrent as before.

"The Spurs need to put Kawhi Leonard off, so the next step will be Danny Green against KD, and they are the only ones on the Spurs team who can play against Russell and KD."

Kenny Smith brought the conversation back to the game from the chit-talk, and as soon as he finished speaking, Reggie Miller immediately picked up the topic, "KD holds the ball, and the Spurs put Danny Green on defense, which may give KD more chances, of course, I'm not saying that Danny Green's defense is bad, but obviously, Kawhi Leonard does a better job defending KD with the ball......"

"Hey, Reggie!" Reggie Miller said this, and was interrupted again by Barkley, who likes to interrupt people's conversations, "The Spurs didn't arrange Danny Green to defend KD, voila......"

Buck pointed to the court, and at this time, Li Yang was standing in front of Durant.

"Huh?"

Seeing that it was Li Yang defending Durant on the court, Reggie Miller immediately sighed in surprise, while Kenny Smith shouted directly: "This is Young, a player signed by the Spurs from the Austin Bulls this season, he had a good performance in the last game, but, is Greg sure that he will not be blown up by KD by this arrangement?"